One by One Til Death Strikes Three
by nyuchu77
Summary: *This story includes spoilers in the events that happen in Persona 3. Strega was close to their end with nothing to waste. Though one little mishap made everything fall down to pieces from one member to the next. Takaya, as the leader, decides what to do from here since he knew that time would come soon. This story takes Strega's perspective view. Rated M for strong language


Since this is my first time posting my fanfiction on here from Tumblr, I went to do some typo editing. Notify me if I missed any typos or whatnot.

I hope you guys enjoy this.

In Iwatodai, during the Dark Hour, Takaya sneered to himself as he walked among the streets with millions of red transmogrified coffins of ordinary people. The moon was halfway full with an eerie luminescent glow while it dawns in the green sky. The cult leader tilts his head toward the sky, watching the moon giving out an otherworldly atmosphere.

Tartarus stood before Takaya as it temporarily replaced the building where the Gekkoukan High School building was for the time being. Takaya gently pushed the large doors with his wrinkled hands.

The cultist himself was half-naked, only wearing long jeans that seem tight around his waist. His bare yet bony torso also revealed tattoos on both of his arms with Roman-like designs such as twin snakes surrounding the spiked sword on his right and a star-like building on his left. Takaya had long wavy blond hair that covered half of his back. His cat-like yellow eyes gives an uneasy feeling of what little sanity was left. He wore a thin string around his forehead as a headband where most people would mistake him for a hippie.

A groan of pain emitted from Takaya's lips, instantly leaning his back against a pillar from exhaustion. He fought through Shadows to get here. The spell he cast almost gave him out, but at least Hypnos wasn't acting up on him. Then he would be really screwed. Panting heavily from that last battle, Takaya took his time to catch his breath with slight tiredness. By now his team members would have been here as what he thought.

"We are not going to make it in this world for long, but it's a will of survival on how long we can hold out. Our Personas might be raging to kill us at anytime now. One day our time will come while we die off in a cruel or painless death. The wheel of fortune started to spin and one of us might be picked for elimination... How long though? I feel like it's that time..." Takaya grumbled with the tone of sorrow. Then he weakly smiled with a drunken expression on his face. Familiar footsteps approached Takaya as a blue-haired hipster with a green jacket walked over to him.

"Hey, at least we're 'living the moment' from what you said. Don't bring that shit up." The blue-haired hipster pointed out.

"Jin, since when was I wrong? It's going to happen one day. You, me, Chidori, we're all fated to die at some point. Stay with me as long as you can." Takaya persuaded with some empathy from the depressing atmosphere. Jin glared at him as he dropped the suitcase and crossed his arms in a menacing gesture.

"Really? You honestly think we would die that soon? Like, we already grabbed Chidori out of the hospital for fuck sakes! I don't need to hear this shit now, Takaya! The suppressant drugs might wear off when the time is right and our Persona doesn't look very aggressive as of now so shut up!" Jin barked with a threatening tone. The cult leader silently shook his head in disappointment, shuddering from his after-thoughts of how his friends might die. Even Takaya's own fate is undecided since leaders only die last.

A girl with long red hair ran up to Takaya and Jin. She wore a white lolita dress with matching dressed lolita glared at both of them with a mild frustration from hearing the conversation. It worried her about what Jin stated since she just got out by the hospital from Takaya and Jin. Secretly, she didn't want to die soon or later.

"You guys need to stop talking about this. Yes, we may die but it's too soon for that. It's only a matter of time before the rest of S.E.E.S. get here." She droned out.

"Chidori, you are not fully healed yet. Sit down and let Jin and I handle those children." Takaya grimaced with a bit anger slipping in his tone. Then the cult leader sighed in depression, agitated from Chidori's interruption of the conversation. The atmosphere was rising with a blazing conflict as Chidori and Takaya gave each other a threatening glare. Jin decided to step back from both of them to see what will happen.

Chidori stomped her way to front Takaya, clearly upset that he and Jin took her away from the hospital. If it was anything she would say to him, now would be the time. A confession that she long wanted to tell him after meeting a special person in her life. Someone who changed her ways with a heartwarming inspiration and guidance from loneliness.

"Listen Takaya, I had enough of this! I can handle this myself! I wanna be with others like Junpei and I will not-" A swish from Takaya's hand slapped her across the face, interrupting what she had to say. Chidori took the sudden swipe, almost about to lose balance and moved back in little fear.

"No. Chidori, you were poisoned by that foolish boy. He is means nothing to us. Dare if you go to him, I'll leave you behind with the rest. Let alone your desires in order to live with that dreadful boy. Death is not a toy to play with. Death is fated upon us. Live the moment! Live this moment as you can while Earth has little to live until next year! Fine, if you don't want to be granted salvation then to hell with you!" Takaya sparked with heavy amount of harshness in his tone. Jin widened his eyes as he didn't believe what he saw. Has Takaya lost his mind? This was the first time that Jin saw him this upset before and it nearly made him fear Takaya. Then silence filled in the room after that instant outbreak that came from Takaya. Takaya attempted to calm himself down by breathing in and out and trying to remember what he did. Chidori was on the brink of tears, somewhat heartbroken that Takaya had the nerve to do that. Meanwhile, Jin pouted as he walked over to Chidori and patted her on the shoulder.

"Takaya's right, Chidori. You should heal or you'll get yourself hurt." Jin reminded, hoping she wouldn't receive another slap from Takaya if she says another word. The dressed lolita silently weeped while she nodded in agreement. There was no argument there. Though she stood still for a brief time, trying to go over what just happened. Mumbles from other Persona users were running towards the Tartarus to enter.

"Shit." Jin cursed. "They are here. C'mon Takaya, let's hide." Takaya nodded while still getting stuff off of his mind. The cult leader peered over at Chidori with a bit of anger, but hoping she'd follow.

"It's your choice, Chidori. Don't hesitate longer on your decision." Takaya suggested before hiding with Jin. Chidori made her final decision to face S.E.E.S. with remaining confusion and frustration. Then everything else went downhill in the end, at least for her after giving a sacrifice to save her beloved Junpei's life with her own. The time of death appeared before Strega. Takaya's insanity grew larger within each day, now with Jin giving him as much persuasion to live until that fated day of January 31, 2010.

The two were almost to the top of Tartarus, bidding far well to each other in great efforts of surviving for as long as they can live. Takaya gave Jin his last sympathetic eye contact with a weak smile across his face.

"I guess this is it, Jin. Today's the day when Nyx will arrive. I will head up to the top so that I can briefly wait for the world to end. You're right, this is how we live. Yet, I doubt we'll live longer before those dwelling fools can come up to face Nyx. I'll try to stall them from going to the top of Tartarus. If you see them, tell them that my death wish is to see the world end alongside me. I do not need anymore praise to keep up any longer. This is it. That day arrived. I wanted this day to come. Save yourself if you need to. You were a loyal friend of mine for as long as I can remember. Now, we'll finally give out our best today. Ikutsuki and those scientists were praising this to happen. The end of the world is here, no time to waste. Good-bye, Jin..." Takaya sadly informed from the bottom of his heart. Jin's tears were forming from the corners of his eyes, desperate and willing enough of wanting to save Takaya from fate but it couldn't be helped. The blue-haired tech hipster wrapped his arms around Takaya's neck, hugging him tightly and nodded with a final agreement. Now he was weeping, having his glasses collect droplets of his tears while the rest traveled down his face. Jin sniffled to stop the waterworks from flowing and stared at Takaya with a promised expression.

"Y-yes. I will do it for you, Takaya... I'll always serve you until the end!" Jin shrieked with a tense tone of sadness. He waved Takaya good-bye for the last time before descending to the lower levels to where the rest of the S.E.E.S. members were. When Takaya didn't see what was left of Jin, he ascended up stairs to the last floor that reached up to the top of Tartarus. The cultist leader took pride for what he had accomplished so far in his life as he was able to live throughout the entire course of his life while it comes to a close. A few minutes later, a muffled explosion was heard from a distance within the lower levels. Takaya widened his eyes in shock and gaped opened his mouth in realization that Jin did something to prevent Shadows from coming up here. The terror in his eyes were shaken with regret of doing this. First Chidori, now Jin. It was now Takaya's turn. No, this defeat can only make him become stronger. The leader sobbed at first, but it slowly developed into a maniacal laughter of what a madman would be. The deaths of two friends made him gone insane. Footsteps got loud and louder, racing up to where Takaya stood. Takaya stopped laughing and gave a wry smirk.

"So, they made it this far. Let's get this show on the road, shall we? Do or die, I will survive until the end!" Takaya gave out another maniacal laughter.


End file.
